


no sugar and only a small dash of milk

by smlltlks



Series: i don't mind the rain [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Awkward Crush, Character Development, Drabble Collection, Drarry, F/M, M/M, Modern Setting, barely fluff, just another conversation, mentioned ron/hermione - Freeform, slight angst? maybe?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:41:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25344112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smlltlks/pseuds/smlltlks
Summary: Yet another simple conversation scene after a night at Ron & Hermione's place. Draco is trying, but he's getting frustrated.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy & Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley
Series: i don't mind the rain [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1835137
Comments: 4
Kudos: 35





	no sugar and only a small dash of milk

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that this work is a part of a series! All works in this series work as stand-alones, but for a better experience, feel free to check the others first :3

“I’m annoyed,” Draco spat, “because your friends still give me the shittiest looks sometimes, regardless of how nice I try to be.”

“You have to give them some time, Draco! People can’t always just forget everything.”

“You think I don’t know that? I haven’t forgotten a single thing. That’s exactly why I’m trying so hard. It would help if someone acknowledged that for once.”

Harry knew his friend was hurt, and he knew Draco was trying. He really was. He’d been looking at apartments too – little “boxes in the sky” – and Harry didn’t have the heart to tell him that he didn’t actually like the idea of Draco moving out and living alone. Yet.

“I’m not the bad guy, Harry. Not anymore.” A snap back to the current moment.

“No of course you aren’t, I would never—”

“Not you, no.” Draco seemed desperate, and he was rarely like this. The tall man did not show a lot of emotion on his face, unless it was a smirk or a faint smile, or a tiny frown when he thought no one was looking (at least that was Harry’s theory). Draco used to be so very expressive, but now every change in his face felt like a conscious decision. “I know I was naïve and a horrible person to deal with as a result. I was and still am a coward. But can they at least give me a _chance_ to prove I’m trying to change?”

It’d been six months now, since Narcissa was sent into isolation in her house. _“House arrest”._ Draco hadn’t been in touch with her, and Harry worried about that. _“You should call her. You’re allowed to,”_ he had tried telling him so many times now, but Draco seemed reluctant, still. Something was holding him back. He had never once even mentioned his father in those six months either.  
For six months he had been living in the guest bedroom of the place Harry was currently staying at. It was not a home, really, to either of them, and yet, Harry still didn’t like the idea of Draco moving out. He wasn’t ready yet. Draco disagreed. Draco thought Harry would never feel like Draco is _“ready”_ and he therefore wasn’t qualified to make this decision.

“Draco,” he began. “I’ll talk to them, if you want. It’s just… you’re also being too harsh on them. They’re trying just as much. Everyone is trying. We try in different ways.”

The other shrugged off his words and straightened his back as though to declare the conversation as over. Then he spoke: “I know that. That’s why I’m so annoyed.”

Confusion hit Harry first, then he had to hide a gasp. A situation in which Draco admit defeat or even spoke self-critically would have been unimaginable a few years ago – time did change a lot of things, in the end. Had he misunderstood? Draco, the man who was never wrong, who was always better, was admitting that he was annoyed _at himself_ because he was being impatient; because he found himself wishing growth and acceptance worked the same way for everyone, but simultaneously knowing they didn’t?

Speaking now would not be right, though. Probably. Maybe. It was crazy to think about how much Draco was changing, every day. It was both spectacular and strangely terrifying to watch.

“Dinner was still nice though, right?” He tried instead.

The blond seemed thankful for the attempt. “Yes, Hermione prepared a very nice meal. I still can’t believe they are getting married, though.”

“That surprises you? I saw it coming way back in my third year of school.”

“You aren’t usually that observant.” Draco remarked.

Harry had to hide a chuckle. “It was extremely hard to miss, and by the end of our fourth year anyone should have known.”

He smiled at the memory of Hermione and Ron still blushy and awkward around each other, reluctant to touch each other unnecessarily, and arguing over who Hermione went to the ball with, and why Ron should have asked earlier. They were the few fond memories Harry could still recall without a bittersweet aftertaste, because they haven’t changed much. Ron and Hermione were still going strong. They were going to get married. They still blushed around each other sometimes, but that was probably just because Harry was there to interrupt, or because they weren’t used to Draco being there too. Four people. That had never been the case back in school. They teased Harry for blushing too. But of course that was a load of bullcrap. Harry didn’t blush. Most of the time. Not for the reasons they were implying. They. Ron and Hermione, who were getting married.

Marriage was a whole different topic, which did indeed leave a bitter aftertaste. Especially for Draco, who was technically still engaged to a person he would never plan to marry. That was probably why the evening had tipped into a less enjoyable one after the couple had announced their plans, even if that had likely not being the former Slytherin’s intention when he had almost choked on his chicken in response to the announcement.

“I never payed any attention to them.”

“What?” Harry was the one that hadn’t been paying attention. Not to this conversation. What had they even been talking about? “Oh. _Oh?_ ”

Draco raised an eyebrow. “Why would I pay attention to them? I never liked Ron Weasley much. Mainly because of my family, but that doesn’t change the fact.”

“I just assumed you would have, since you wound up talking to us a lot.”

“You.” Draco corrected him. “I rarely talked to Hermione, and almost never to Ron; at least not directly.”

“Oh.” Harry said, again. He felt like a record stuck on a loop. _Oh._ Him.  
He coughed nervously and busied himself stacking some papers that had spilled across the whole table.

After a moment of vocal silence, he looked up again to check what Draco was doing. His friend, Draco. Honestly, after all this time, the word friend still felt wrong. He found the blond with his nose stuck back in the bloody magazine he had picked up, looking at apartments up for rent.

“You’re really dead set on this moving thing, right?” Harry asked, again, just to be sure, after studying him for a moment. Draco still looked the same, just tired. Not even a lot older. Just tired.

Draco smirked in response, but didn’t look up. “I would advise you to do the same, but you seem to like this place.”

“I try to, yeah.”

Their eyes met. “I don’t. I suppose our tastes are rather different when it comes to that.”

Not just that, Harry added, but not aloud. Draco looked like he was about to go quiet again, and Harry would not want to interrupt that. He was quiet a lot. In fact, he had spoken more (and more loudly) today, than Harry could recall the taller male speaking at any point in time in the last two months. No wonder he was tired.

“Would you like a cup of tea?” Harry asked him after a moment.

“Yes please,” Draco said, “no sugar—”

“… and only a small dash of milk.” Harry grinned, and turned around to make his way to the kitchen. “You need to write that down. If you’re moving. You need a kettle for your box in the sky, where you can watch the storms.”

As he picked out a mug he found himself wondering why Draco hadn’t responded yet. Then he did:

“Maybe we could just bring this one.”

**Author's Note:**

> Check out the rest of this series for more short scenes. Maybe they'll eventually actually get their box in the sky.


End file.
